No member of the British royal family should be hobnobbing with Chinese spies.
But can the report of this kind of thing prove a tipping point in the attitude of Britain’s China-appeasing prime minister (shown above, right), who says that in a general way he is indeed “concerned about China” (“Keir Starmer says he’s ‘concerned about China’ after allegations spy became close to Prince Andrew,” The Standard, December 16, 2024)? The embarrassment about Prince Andrew (shown above, left) doesn’t materially add to all the already known causes for concern about China.
Britain is concerned about “the challenge that China poses”, the Prime Minister admitted on Monday, following allegations that a spy had become close to Prince Andrew.
During a press conference, Sir Keir Starmer was questioned about whether he had spoken to the Royal family after reports that a friend of the Duke of York had carried out “covert and deceptive activity” for the Chinese Communist Party.
China’s foreign influence operations are nothing new. Anyway: “The PM defended his approach to engaging with Beijing….”
“Our approach is one of engagement, of co-operating where we need to co-operate, particularly on issues like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should, particularly on issues like human rights, and to compete when it comes to trade. That’s the strategic approach that we have set out as a UK Government.”
Starmer says that he is “very pleased with the engagement and the progress that we have made.”
Not about Prince Andrew
Meanwhile, a former security minister, Tom Tugendhat, says he’s “absolutely certain that there are members of the United Front Work Department who are active right now in attempting to influence journalism, academics, politics, and the whole lot. This is really the tip of the iceberg.
“And so the story, I can understand why it’s been about Prince Andrew; but it’s not really about Prince Andrew. It’s about the way the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to exert influence here in the United Kingdom.”
Tugendhat “urged the Government to introduce a register of hostile state agents” and “put China on the enhanced tier of it.”
The Starmer-Lammy government, which does have its concerns about China, should support doing at least this much.
